SENECA COUNTY, Ohio — Renewable energy independent power producer, sPower, announced that it would not refile an application with the Ohio Power Siting Board.
The application would have covered the Seneca Wind project in the Scipio, Reed, Venice, Eden and Bloom Townships in Seneca County, Ohio.
The project was a proposed 200 MW wind farm consisting of up to 77 wind turbines on approximately 25,000 acres of privately leased land in Seneca County.
The decision to not refile the OPSB application will put the wind project on hold until next steps are defined by the company.
“We would like to thank our landowners and other community partners who have supported this project over the years, even before our acquisition,” sPower CEO, Ryan Creamer said. “We hope to do more work in Ohio in the future, but at this time, we are making the difficult choice to place our resources in other states where there is a greater potential for success.”
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The project would have provided enough clean energy to power nearly 60,000 homes per year. It was also estimated that this project would have contributed more than $3 million annually to the local economy, while providing approximately 250 temporary construction jobs and between 10 and 15 permanent job positions.
Seneca County commissioners were originally on board with the project. However, back in March of 2019, they reversed that decision.
Those opposed to the wind project voiced concern about potential health dangers due to the infrasound and light flicker, the threat of property devaluation and the airport needing to reroute its official approach.
Additionally, Seneca East Schools didn't want any turbines near their buildings.
For more information on Seneca Wind, check out its website.